June 1st. A month had passed since the release of Lin Zhiyan's latest animated film. Its box office had already surpassed 10 billion yen. At this rate, 20 billion was a sure thing. It was set to become another animated film directed by Lin Zhiyan himself to break the 20 billion yen mark, following the success of Your Name.
The film's triumph further solidified Lin Zhiyan's standing within the animation industry.
Just past five in the evening, Lin Zhiyan had finished his scheduled work for the day. Instead of heading straight home, however, he began browsing various online platforms.
Upon logging into N Station, a video immediately caught his eye. It was an educational piece titled "Master of Animation: Lin Zhiyan—The Rise of a Super Genius."
The video was uploaded by a user named "Musashino Erika." She was female, had never shown her face, and her voice sounded quite young—perhaps still a college student.
Of course, he knew all this before even watching the video because he had seen her previous uploads introducing other famous figures in the animation industry.
Videos like this weren't new, but this uploader's content always had a unique touch that set it apart from others in the same genre.
For instance, she would drop inside scoops that even most industry insiders were unaware of. If Lin Zhiyan hadn't been able to verify some of the information himself, he would have suspected the uploader was just making things up.
The audience was also skeptical of her claims. However, she never bothered to prove their authenticity, simply adopting an attitude of "believe it if you want, or don't."
Lin Zhiyan hadn't followed this uploader, so the fact that the video appeared in his feed was undoubtedly the result of the algorithm.
Still, since it had popped up, he decided to watch it. Besides, the video was about him this time, which piqued his curiosity about what she had to say.
The video had been posted that afternoon, and in just over two hours, it already had fifty to sixty thousand views, along with a healthy number of comments and bullet chats.
Clicking on the video, it opens with a short animated sequence. Then, set against a montage of relevant clips, the uploader begins her narration in a gentle, storytelling tone:
"Hello everyone, I'm Musashino Erika. Today, I want to introduce you to my favorite animation master—Lin Zhiyan.
Actually, I've been wanting to make a video about him for several months now. But his new animation just came out last month, which gave me some fresh material to work with, so I decided to hold off until this episode.
Speaking of which, I'm not sure if you've all seen his new animation yet. If you have, please spam 'Seen it' in the bullet comments!"
"Alright, let's get into the main topic.
Lin Zhiyan was born on January 5, 1977, at a public hospital in Tokyo. At the time, no one could have possibly imagined that a boy from such an ordinary family would possess such extraordinary talent for animation and go on to achieve such monumental success..."
As expected for an introductory video, it began with Lin Zhiyan's birth, covering his family background, what he was like as a child, his early interests, and how others perceived him back then.
Much of this information comes from Lin Zhiyan's own past television appearances or documentaries filmed by TV stations. Interestingly, he has forgotten many of these details himself, but the internet has a long memory and has kept them all perfectly preserved.
This information is easily accessible online, so it's no surprise that the uploader knows so much.
However, all of this is just the introductory material for the first chapter.
The real substance begins in the second chapter:
"On March 26, 1995, Lin Zhiyan, fresh out of high school, arrived at the IG headquarters in Musashino City, Tokyo, carrying a portfolio he had spent two days creating.
You might think he was there for an interview. Well, he did fill out the application form and submit his resume along with his portfolio. But there were several other candidates waiting, and they were being interviewed one by one. Before his turn even came, he had already slipped away."
Anyone familiar with Lin Zhiyan's career knows that he did indeed work at IG for five years before founding LSP. But how did he get in without even attending the interview?
Speaking of this, we have to mention a Production Assistant at the time named Akimoto To. He was one of the Production Assistants for Ghost in the Shell, released in '95. Back then, a cut he was responsible for ran into trouble, and they needed a Key Animator of sufficient skill to step in. However, for a rookie Production Assistant, suddenly finding a high-level Key Animator to help with the drawing was no easy task. It was at this critical juncture that he met Lin Zhiyan...
Many people know that Lin Zhiyan worked at IG for five years, but not many know the story of how he joined. Under such circumstances, the uploader of this video still managed to dig it up, which is quite impressive.
The video continued:
"During his years at IG, Lin Zhiyan was always one of their main Key Animators. Although he also worked on storyboards and directing, both within the company and outside, everyone focused on his talent for key animation. No one knew he had talents in other areas.
On January 21, 2000, Lin Zhiyan finally submitted his resignation letter to IG President Ishikawa Mitsugu. Although Ishikawa was very reluctant to let him go, he had no choice but to agree. Then, the fierce tiger was unleashed from its cage, and a super genius of animation production was born."
Just how genius is he?
I won't even go into his talents in planning, storyboarding, scripting, character design, directing, key animation, and music. Let's just look at the animations he's worked on over the years.
He personally served as the Supervising Director for Death Note, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Gurren Lagann, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, and so on...
He served as the Producer for Demon Slayer, Uma Musume, K-On!, Love Live!, Girls und Panzer, Attack on Titan, and more...
In just over twenty years, he has produced over a hundred animations, countless of which became massive hits. Just ask me—is he strong or what?!
The entire video was over forty minutes long—extremely long—but it was also incredibly detailed, revealing a lot of information unknown to the outside world. I have no idea where the uploader even got all this material.
Of course, the information was secondary to the praise. Most of the video was spent gushing about how incredibly talented Lin Zhiyan is and why he deserves to be called the "Master of Animation."
The uploader praised him to the heavens, yet the viewers didn't find it problematic at all. Instead, they flooded the screen with bullet comments in agreement.
At the end of the video, the uploader naturally mentioned Lin Zhiyan's new animation and shared some related news.
Once she finished talking about the new project, she wrapped up with a final summary: "There are many masters of animation in the industry, but Lin Zhiyan is undoubtedly the youngest among them. As some media outlets have put it, he will dominate the animation industry for at least another twenty years. We look forward to him creating more and even better animations in the future."
After the video ended, Lin Zhiyan let out a long breath.
Despite the extravagant praise, he wasn't actually a genius. He had simply been reborn into a golden age of animation, which had allowed him to achieve his current success.
Still, he had long grown accustomed to such flattery and didn't feel embarrassed by it.
After a moment's thought, he used his own account to leave a comment under the video: "I've finished watching the video. Thank you for the introduction. I can't say my future animations will be even better, but please look forward to them all the same."
After posting, Lin Zhiyan didn't wait for a reply. Instead, he closed all his browser tabs, opened a Word document, and began brainstorming his next animation project.
Although he had long since lost sight of a specific goal, he knew he had to keep making animations.
If not until the end of the world, then at least until retirement.
(End of Book)